Dear Editor,
According to Head Mistress Julie Duncan, concerned parents, calling for reassurances, vowed not to send their children back to the Covent Garden Secondary School as burning chemicals from a nearby business have sent several students and teachers to the hospital over a few days.
Exposure to burning pesticides and other toxic chemicals cans and bottles in the open air at industrial plants, can be dangerous to human health and drinking water.
I am surprised that individual declined to suggest what action the parents should take after on investigating the school found that it came from something burning at the nearby Guyana Stockfeeds Limited, located at Farm village. There is a great need for issues of occupational safety and health to be seriously addressed at this factory. Further, by law the factory is duty bound to provide a safe and healthy environment in the community, it is the EPA’s responsibility to ensure that Mr Robert Badal meets his legal obligations towards the affected teachers and students.
The Neighbourhood Democratic Council also have a duty to prevent citizens from burning garbage and trash in the communities and creating hazardous fumes to the detriment of people.
Yours faithfully,
Mohamed Khan
Editor’s note
We sent a copy of this letter to Robert Badal the Chief Executive Officer of Guyana Stockfeeds Limited for any comments he might wish to make and received the following reponse:
“Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to respond to Mr Khan’s letter. My response is as follows:
Guyana Stockfeeds Inc confirms rigidly to recognized environmental standards. Our operational procedures and management practices ensure at all times that our obligations to the environment and to all concerned are fully discharged. In fact, no burning of any kind is done on our property as all waste materials are collected by a reputable garbage disposal company.
The fire which the writer referred to was not initiated by the company. As soon as we heard of the fire, I instructed my security officers to put it out.
It is not uncommon for some residents of the nearby Covent Garden to enter our premises at the Oil Mill. In fact, over the years they have dismantled the southern fence separating us from Covent Garden, vandalized electrical cables, stolen zinc sheets etc. Providence Police Station has records on many of the cases of vandalism referred to. At the moment two persons from the village are before the court.
In November 2007 we packed 200 bags of vitamin premix that were imported with short expired dates in the bond of our Oil Mill awaiting instructions from regulatory agencies as to how we might dispose of them. All items were accounted for when officers of the Ministry of Health supervised its disposal on Feb 6.
A fire was initiated on our premises which my staff swiftly extinguished. As CEO, I apologized for it on the basis that it was on my Company’s premises, but I believe the reaction to it was grossly exaggerated.”
